Lackluster and Lackadaisical

Let me pre-face by stating these are merely thoughts, opinions and expressions wholly of my own. These stem from my deep-rooted desire for this game to be successful. In short, I care about this game but I'm lost in a fog.

A little background: I purchased this game well over a year ago. I've been a part of it almost since its' infancy (PS4 here). So I understand this game has come a LONG, LONG, LONG way since then. So I fully appreciate the efforts this game has put in and continues to – despite the occasional slip up. Communication has improved even if its' spotty at times and they've done better with discussing road maps (because to be honest, even to this day STW still feels like a side project). So there's a lot of good things going for it including bi-weekly updates (depending on how you look at it, weekly in a way too). That's not necessarily my problem with the state of the game. Maybe I'm in the minority here, maybe I'm not. Or maybe I'm just burned out.

I've recently – well relatively recently – hit PL 100. Since I started that was a long term goal. Unfortunately I completed this back during the Halloween event and have barely touched the game since, outside of daily log-ins. I did not have much interest in the Frosty event that's still going on either. Why? Because even though it's really been a year since it was last here, it already felt tired. The grinding for tickets felt tiring. It couldn't hold a candle to filling the growing void I've felt with this game over the last several months. Don't even get me started on the re-skins of re-skins. Is it time to move on? Perhaps. But for some innate reason I keep coming back to this game even if it's only for a brief period. It has so much potential that it's a shame in over a year it really hasn't been brought to fruition. I also appreciate, respect and understand game development is a process. Ultimately I feel as though there's far too much half-assing or not enough effort placed in this title (mind you even if it's still Paid Early Access, those are still funds).

Let me give you a perfect example. Battle Royale. Yes, that game. Yes, here we go again with it. Yes, I'm beating a dead horse on that topic and all things that stem from it. But hear me out. There's no question that it is successful and probably deserves to have the majority of attention focused on it. But I like to give credit where credit is due, much to my own personal dismay of STW. And they did a really, really, really cool thing. They developed a creator which while it's nothing like GTA's for example, it's still a fun distraction and allows for time spent doing something DIFFERENT. And that's where my problem, coming full circle in a round-about way, with STW lies. I'm all for grinding, I'm all for working towards something, but when there's no differentiation it becomes monotonous. Likewise there's ALSO a problem with what I'm working toward. Guns? PL? Survivor completion? Random re-skin? To me the incentive has worn off. I want my shine back.

– Llamas really don't have much use outside of events due to unique currency for "unique" rewards

– Still very little if any consequence for leaching (I've been lucky here and have had almost no negativity)

– UI updates, while welcome, still have a long ways to go (awkward patched loading, still no load outs, etc)

– No ability to adjust FOV (really, this is a multi-billion dollar gaming company that created Unreal Engine)

– Little customization/no skins/no emotes (as of writing this)

– Events are recycled and could really build upon more than fetch/defend

– No way to destroy/easily re-do SSD designs

– Weapon customization is grungy and not streamlined

– Still not Free-To-Play

– Little in the way of V-bux farming

With that in mind, I'd like to next go over some things that would personally "save" the game for me. That also includes addressing the issues above. Those lofty ideas are as follows:

– Back to your roots: the story

– Explore individual routes of key characters (cover), give them their own campaign, make me interested in their history

– Build upon story characters with unique abilities

– Hone in on the idea of "classes" and sub-classes", it's too all over the map now

– Develop a "Create-A-Hero"

– If we cannot character create appearance, allow for some versatility as described next.

– Take Ninjas for example. Allow the creation of one where we pick the skin from THEIR class. This means Sarah, StoneFoot, Ken, etc. Allow us to select their outfit colors. Allow us to customize their skill tree from the basic classes (sword master, assassin, etc). Allow us to invest points to level up abilities. Allow further customization based on OTHER Ninjas you've unlocked from events, Llamas, etc (appearance and abilities). This would incentivize farming events, V-bux, etc. So maybe I want a Sarah that looks like her Valentine's counterpart that's all focused on Dragonslash or maybe I want her to have Dire's abilities. You get the idea. This is not a developed idea, merely just the idea itself to get a point across.

– Biomes take time, yes, but they need a stronger focus for quicker implementation

– Continue the main "cannon" story if you will with more ways to draw us in (it feels flat as is)

– Give names to all characters, they're deep in the files already

– New game modes: raids, time trials, building competitions, etc, ways to inspire solo AND co-op play

I could continue but by this point I realize I've really gone off on a tangent with this loose collection of things I wanted to discuss. I do hope that this game has a bright future. Right now though it really feels like the awkward middle child trying to find its' way and who it is. With a new year around the corner its' my sincere wish that this game actually takes a direction and follows through. There's such a diamond here if they just keep applying the pressure.

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Yeah. I know, crazy? But it's true. I like this game. I'm seeing so much negativity and I get it; there are issues that do need addressing. It can be frustrating having progress being slow and not getting peak performance, or a mechanic change that you're not used to, but I feel like so many…

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